Why you care: Short of Tool and Metallica, Sweden’s
Opeth represents the most successful marriage of extreme metal and
progressive rock to date. The band cut its fangs as a studio group,
making five critically acclaimed albums and rarely setting foot on stage
until 2001 album Blackwater Park was released and the band began
a series of world tours. Frontman Mikael Åkerfeldt led his group
through a stiff and awkward phase, keeping audiences charmed with his
witty stage banter and nerdy acumen. Now, after hundreds of shows (and a
few lineup changes) he fronts a premier live act. Opeth keeps pace with
Rush and Led Zeppelin as a concert experience. And while loving Opeth
has traditionally meant coming to terms with the dichotomy of vocal
styles that Åkerfeldt employs—alternately using extreme death-metal
growls and winsome folk balladry—latest album Heritage finds the
band dropping its metal trappings to create a purely progressive rock
experience. Metal fans need not fear, though. Opeth has tried this
before and always comes roaring back with a vengeance. There’s something
for everyone at this show, but there’s a special something for the
stoned, young hand-holding couples from Gresham who know every word to
every song.